After following up with the insurance desk adjuster consistently, Back to the present, I just got off the phone with their "Director" of special insurance case, whatever that means, where we've had a pretty combative conversation where I get the feeling that he was fishing for something and I said as much to him.

I send the sellers letters to fish for future deals and I send the buyers letters to help build my buyers list.Of course those wholesalers that are assigning their deals won't show up in public record.

Nuts!

I know some places stayed nuts, but I suspect you'll find the value went down at least a little over that period. 

I too would like to do some out of state investing since I'm a little fish living in Brooklyn.

OK BP is driving me nuts.

Or are the buyers for this kind of business only “big fish” (i.e. buying all cash, lots of money, etc.) ?

It's probably going to drive my GC's guys nuts.

Welcome, @Alexander Jones.Yes, SoCal can be a tough nut to crack for newbies.A couple years ago I mailed out lots of letters to homeowners in LA County with no luck.Then I tried rural Kern County and got a deal from a distressed homeowner in California City.The margins were not as large as they would've been in LA or OC, but I was able to rent it out for 2 years before fixing it up and selling it for a decent gain.Also, have you considered an owner-occupied small multifamily for your first deal?

The job is commercial fishing business In Alaska that I help run!